Yu-Gi-Oh Time Loops
by Kamen Rider Leonite
Summary: They all share two things. They all have strange hair and they all are stuck doing things over and over again. Time Loop stories for Yu-gi-oh, GX, 5D's and Zexal.
1. Chapter 1

**Authors Note: Yugioh is owned by Kazuki Takahashi.**

**Any written work with a name in brackets was written by that contributor. Otherwise I wrote it.**

* * *

**1.1**:

Yugi blinked as he felt his body move, sliding in the last piece of the puzzle. Here he is, back again. Solving the Millennium Puzzle again. Having to bond with Joey and the others again.

He had become sick and tired of repeating time over and over again. Every time only two sets of memories seemed to come back. His... and Atem's. He grinned as his partner connected once more.

'So, what's the plan this time Yugi?' Atem asked. The fact that both of them had lived much longer than any man has had to live before had meant the two were about as tight as friends could be, a mental link being second nature to them.

Yugi just grinned as he walked around the room. 'Simple one. After seeing how Joey did against Marik... I'm thinking Joey Wheeler: King of Games,' He noted.

'Interesting. It will be hard to get him to defeat Pegasus, but not entirely impossible,' Atem conceded... and then noticed the look on Yugi's face. 'But you think otherwise?'

Yugi sighed. "Don't get me wrong Atem, it's not like I can't see Joey winning... but remember that at the time the rules are Pegasus's and we were only able to survive through mind shuffle.'

The two fell silent... and then Atem grinned. 'I might just have a solution to that.'

* * *

Pegasus grinned. It was a shame that he didn't get to face Yugi-boy in the finals so he could beat him and claim the puzzle, but it seems he had given his friend the puzzle to use instead. It wouldn't be as fun, but it would still get him back his Cecilia. He almost felt sorry for poor Joey-boy here. He had potential but the rigors of a Shadow Game were already straining him. 'And now to see what exactly your next card will be.' Pegasus's Millennium Eye glowed in the darkness. He gazed into Joey's mind and saw... a Kurboh?

"Kuri". The brown fuzzball cheeped. And with that cheep as his only warning the Kuriboh started multiplying rapidly. And then they started to dance, or at least moving in what could be called dancing, shaking back and forth. Pegasus glared and the glow intensified as he attempted to banish these annoying pests... only for them to multiply faster and faster, starting to fill up the field. He stopped using the eye but by this point it seemed too late as an ocean of Kuriboh formed. As a tidal wave of the cute fiends broke over his platform, Pegasus spotted what must be the Puzzle's spirit... surfing on the annoying creatures.

"Penalty game!" The spirit declared. The wave crashed down on Pegasus. It engulfed him in Kuriboh.

Even many months later Joey would never tell a soul on just exactly how he beat Pegasus. It didn't help that every time he brought up the subject Yugi doubled over in hysterical laughter.

* * *

**1.2:**

Jaden sighed. Jinzo. Jinzo was always a duel that brings a downer to things. It made death seem so near when really the burn strategy he had is subpar at best. And at times an excuse to say the word "Ectoplasma" as much as possible.

"Ok dude, I get that you're a monster spirit that wants to be in the real world," Jaden stated. His turn had started but he hadn't drawn yet. Opposite to him was the possessed Obelisk Blue boy... Tory? Torrey? It's embarrassing that despite the loops, he let himself forget the guy's name. "But seriously? Taking people's souls?"

"What other option do you think I have?" Jinzo countered.

"Mystical items!" Jaden shouted. "I mean, Yugi Motou's own Millennium puzzle is said to have magic in it, couldn't that sustain you?" He asked.

Jinzo laughed. It started off as a deep mechanical rumble, but evolved into full on bellows of cruel laughter. "So naive. I'm only doing this right now because of the magic. I could use it and become solid... but then where's the fun in all that?"

"So you're torturing then and taking their souls for fun then?" Jaden asked. His hand clenched into a fist... and then relaxed. "Right, just thought I'd check."

"Why?"

"Because I won't feel so bad doing this!" Jaden declared... and as he did, a dark aura of energy surrounded him. His eyes turned yellow as he glared at the duel spirit. The currently panicking duel spirit.

"No. You can't be him," Jinzo denied. Jaden drew the cards from his deck even as the possessed body sweated. "You can't be. You're just a myth!"

"Uh Jaden... what's he talking about?" Syrus asked. Ah Syrus. He might not be looping like Yubel tends to do but he's one of the most loyal friends regardless, and one of the first to believe him if he says who he is. "What's going on?"

Jaden looked at his hand... and then raised his duel disk and gave his friend a thumbs up. "Don't worry Sy. I'm just teaching this guy a lesson". He stated as his voice echoed slightly.

The rest of the duel was short and bloody. Yes it was excessive to bring out the Supreme King against Jinzo... but it was honestly worth it to see Jinzo starting to scream like a little girl. "Sometimes there's no kill like overkill."

* * *

**1.3 (Krika):**

Yusei sighed as he tuned up his second Duel Runner yet again. Repeating these events had been...uncertain at first. He had first thought this was some trick of Z-ONEs, but repetition had drilled that idea out. Still, he had the opportunity to redo some of the best times in his life (and some of the worst - he shoved memories of Kalin out of his head).

He didn't seem to start the loops early enough to stop Rally from stealing the chip (and it wasn't like he needed that particular one anyway, with the engineering experience he had accumulated), but he could at least make sure that Trudge didn't arrest him.

Seriously, Trudge was pretty asshole-ish before he got to know Martha and Crow's kids. Hopefully he could speed that up a little later on down the line, but for now, he felt like letting loose. While he'd have to assemble a lot of his cards from scratch, his abilities seemed to carry over, including one in particular...

* * *

Two motorbikes sped around a corner, the one in the lead flashing with the colors of Security, the one behind a sleek red. A massive dragon accompanied the first, while two small-ish warriors, a tiny one in a race-car outfit and a robot-like one with a scarf around its neck followed the second.

"You wasted your entire turn and your hand to summon a measly level 2 Synchro monster, and leaving it in Attack Position? If you aren't going to give me a challenge, Satellite Scum, at least do me the favor of giving up now!" He chuckled, and glanced back to find the duellist giving him a very rude gesture. "Why you..! Montage Dragon, destroy him!" The three-headed dragon roared, and shot at the unprotected race-car warrior.

"Now you'll be sorry..." he chuckled, when a brilliant glow erupted behind him. "Wha..." He looked over his shoulder to find Yusei not only surrounded in a brilliant blue glow, but accelerating past him. As the opposing duellist shot by him, he somehow managed to pick out that Yusei was somehow piloting his Runner with his eyes closed. Once passed him, he heard the cry of "CLEAR MIND! ACCEL..." before the bike impossibly disappeared in a flash of light.

"Wait, where did you go?" He checked around in confusion, before another burst of light heralded both the reappearance of the Duel Runner, bearing a widely grinning duellist, and a massive monster in the space where two had been before.

"...SYNCHRO!"

Trudge gulped. Maybe this bet hadn't been the best idea...

* * *

**1.4:**

Yuma simply grinned as he faced Shark. Usually things were so boring when it was only him and Astral, even at this point in time he can pull off Chaos Number 39: Utopia Ray. A card which pretty much demolishes anyone at this point. And after he duels Kite in the key, well then he has access to every single card he and Astral have made through Shining Draw. And while it is amusing to see Vetrix and Faker completely freak out at the idea of not only facing advanced cards, but ones that use the powers of Rank Up and Rank Down magic... it's not a challenge.

Not this time though. It's the bay, and he and Shark are duelling. He had Spear Sharks, Hammer Shark and Big Jaws on the field, with all their levels at level 4. Given the grin on Shark's face he wasn't entirely blind to what he was doing either. "Hey Yuma. You're going to need to drop that no Numbers policy, because I'm opening the overlay network!" He declared, the three water monsters flooding their way into the galaxy esque portal. "With these three, I open the overlay network and xyz summon," Shark continued.

"Three level 4 monsters," Yuma muttered.

"And it's Shark. I am unsure as to how he managed to get it from Vetrix, but there's only one monster that fits," Astral noted.

"Prepare for this battle to get torrential," Shark added. "Number 32: Shark Drake!" As he declared it, the red shark Number monster surged its way out of the portal and growled at Yuma. But no number started glowing on the water duellist.

Yuma blinked... then grinned. "How long were you going to wait until you told me you were doing this?" He asked.

Shark smirked. "I was hoping to fool you a bit more, but you aren't making mistakes I can use this time," Shark said.

"Uh, can somebody fill us in on what's going on?" Bronk asked.

"It's... a little complicated," Yuma admitted.

"No, it's just you're too thick to make it sound simple," Shark stated.

"You try to explain the concept of time loops to people who've only just encountered Number cards! The only one I can get to reliably accept it is Caswell," Yuma shouted.

Bronk and Tori turned to Caswell, the hefty boy and green haired girl utterly confused. "Um... he hasn't told me anything like that." The blue haired boy admitted. "But the concept is popular in the fiction where someone repeats the same events over and over in a never ending loop. When they get to an end, they get back." As he chatted, Yuma and Shark had continued their duel, the red shark on the field having been replaced by a bigger white shark and guitar playing fiend that seems to be trying to defeat it with the power of music. "But if Yuma was in one of those... then it would mean that in the end he's been reliving events like this one over and over again". He notes in awe, the three glancing back as, against all odds, the white shark collapsed from the fiend playing it's guitar. "Although one has to ask if his strategy is always the same".

"Nah, too boring then," Yuma shouted back. "If I always duelled the same then I wouldn't be able to be feeling the flow!" His three friends just blinked... and laughed. Shark soon joined in as Yuma looked around, confused. "Hey, why is everyone laughing?"

"Oh man, even if he is repeating things, that's still Yuma," Bronk managed to laugh out.

* * *

**1.5 (Krika):**

Crow looked at the group assembled in front of him, and steepled his fingers in mock seriousness.

"Alright, let's go over this one more time. The Shadow Realm is apparently the underlying source of all Games of Darkness. You can bring it into this world, correct?"

Yugi shook his head. "If we don't want to start an actual Shadow Game, then I could at most intensify the influence and power of pretty much anything that draws on it."

Crow nodded in understanding, then turned to look at two figures, one green-haired in a red and pink outfit, the other with a shock of brown hair in a worn red jacket."You two can lever open portals to the Spirit World, and summon Duel Monster Spirits, yes?"

Luna nodded, while Jaden smiled excitedly. "You make it sound so difficult, Crow. Two of my titles do directly relate to dealing with Spirits, after all." He snapped his fingers, and Winged Kuriboh popped into existence on his head. "We can do it just fine."

Crow nodded, and glanced at a redhead in a somewhat anachronistic-looking dress. "And I know that you can bring holograms to real life." Akiza nodded in acknowledgement.

He turned to the last member of the group, and looked the boy with two-toned hair over. "And….I'm going to be honest, I don't quite get what you can do, but it's impressive, and that's pretty much what I'm looking for."

Yuma grinned. "I've got a good feeling about this, and now that I'm feeling the flow, I'm not going back!" Crow nodded, and turned away from the group to face the rising sun, in a surprisingly dramatic gesture. Probably practiced.

"Then….let us begin."

* * *

Where New Domino City had been was now a massive battlefield. Duel Spirits were constantly emerging from tears in the air, and clashing against each other, the great wars and rivalries spilling over into this plane. In various places around what was left of the city, the massive flaming glyphs of the Earthbound immortals were emblazoned on the ground and the sky. The giants fought against the rising tide of Spirits, smashing dozens with each blow. Other gods were there as well, fighting the tide and each other. The legendary Egyptian Gods smashed against their Wicked counterparts, the air trembling with the clash. The Nordic Gods fought all comers, desperately trying to stave off Ragnarok. Around the edges, the Sacred Beasts, long since combined into Armityle, flitted around the edges, taking bites out of anything that presented itself.

As humans struggled to discover what was going on, Duelists found that monsters they summoned were real, and capable of inflicting real damage. Duel Gangs went on the run, as Security tried to keep what little was left of the situation under control. Some banded together, using their decks to defend the helpless against the rising tide of horror. On their side was another god, a weak one, but Zushin protected the small. Still, despite this hope, another force lurked in the shadows. More and more, duellists would find a card on the ground, a card that they were compelled to pick up. To those who did, they found themselves possessed, and began to spread chaos across the city, with glowing Numbers signifying those lost to this power. They broke into the safe zones, merging them with the chaos that filled the city.

In the sky above, as if a harbinger of destruction, the Divine Temple hung. From it a buzz sounded, a buzz that grew stronger as machines emerged from it, destroying all that they reached. Their armies focused on the Momentum infrastructure of the city, attempting to level the city as they prepared the way for the slowly descending Temple.

One building remained intact, protected by 6 dragons that surrounded it, glowing with the red energy of the Crimson Dragon. On top of it, Yusei stared at the hell that his home had been reduced to, and then turned to look at the perpetrators. Yugi's spikier-than-normal hair indicated that the Pharaoh was in control, while Jaden's eyes glowed with the powers of the Supreme King and Yubel. Luna and Akiza looked normal, though like the rest of the Signers their marks glowed bright red. Yuma….no-one was still sure what Yuma had done, why his hair was now trichromatic, or where he had gotten the armor from.

"And what do you have to say for yourselves?" He glared at them with a hint of the rage that very few people had ever seen in his eyes. Luna shivered a little, but everyone present had faced off against some of the more terrifying things the multiverse could offer, and weren't immediately cowed, though Luna and Akiza were worried that maybe they had hit the normally level-headed Yusei's breaking point.

In response to the question, Crow shrugged. "Well, that escalated quickly."

* * *

**1.5 Addition:**

And darting between each battle, cackling at all the chaos as he flew upon his wings was Number 96: Dark Mist, influenced by the demonic power. Occasionally a monster would charge at him, or a blast of energy fired up but he'd either absorb the poor fool and fire back or simply dodge it. In fact the absorbed strength he's gathered so far has allowed him to shrug off the occasional blast from one of the more godly monsters. "Yes you fools, squabble, battle in all this chaos! Such destruction, such mayhem... it is glorious!" Dark Mist laughed. "And at the end, who will stand but-"

He didn't even get enough time to finish that sentence as a golden sword impaled him, followed by a blast of godly lightning and Zushin's fist. As it ends up, while flying might be fun, flying and ranting make you an obvious target in this area.

* * *

**1.6 (The Imaginatrix):**

"Sirs must be very careful. Very bad if fall into any springs!"

"This guy is already annoying me," Kaiba muttered. He had only been awake for a few loops, and he'd ended up here. To make matters worse, Yugi and the mutt were here with him. According to his loop memories, they'd all accompanied someone called "Ranma" to this valley full of supposedly cursed springs. Not that he believed that. It had taken him years to acknowledge the existence of Shadow Magic, and nearly two loops to admit it. He'd believe these springs were cursed when he saw—

Yugi slipped and fell into one of the nearest pools with a startled yelp.

"Oh dear! Sir fall in Spring of Drowned Egyptian Pharaoh! Very tragic story of young pharaoh who drown there over three-thousand year ago."

Yugi re-emerged several inches taller with a deep tan.

"Thank the gods! I've been trying to switch out since we got here—wait. Why is everyone staring?"

"Sir is taking curse very well," the guide observed.

Kaiba rolled his eyes. "He does this all the time. The fact that you guessed what would happen is a fluke."

"Kaiba, he doesn't get a tan when the Pharaoh takes control," Joey said in a whisper.

Kaiba ignored him. "Anyway, how could an Egyptian pharaoh drown in the middle of China? That makes no sense."

Before Kaiba could continue, a somewhat frantic panda ran into him from behind, and he was sent tumbling into another nearby spring.

"Sir fall into Spring of Drowned Female White Dragon! Very tragic story of white dragon who drown here two-thousand five-hundred year ago!"

Joey stared as a majestic creature he had only ever seen as a hologram rose out of the water, and didn't notice the red-haired girl running his way with rage in her eyes until she slammed into him, and he fell into the Spring of Drowned Golden Retriever.

* * *

"Sorry about that," Ranma said sheepishly once the story had been told and the Tendo sisters had left the four of them alone. The girls were not Awake this loop, and Ranma hadn't officially Awoken until they all arrived in Nerima. Joey was looking particularly sulky, as he had hardly scrambled out of the first spring before he fell into Spring of Drowned Baby, and now he turned into a puppy when doused in cold water.

"It's not your fault we ended up in this loop," Yugi said. "It's actually a nice change."

"So you're new to the fused loop?" Ranma asked resignedly.

"Is that what you call them?" Joey asked, interested despite himself. He was still unhappy with Ranma, but he seemed to know more about the loops than they did.

Ranma sighed. "Guess I'd better give you the Talk."

He produced the necessary equipment from his pocket universe and began the routine Welcome-To-the-Multiverse presentation.

* * *

**1.7 (The Imaginatrix):**

"I don't know how you did it," King Belyugi said wearily as he collapsed into the chair opposite his ancestor/mentor for this loop.

"Whatever do you mean?" Belatem asked innocently.

"The paperwork, the negotiations, being bowed to everywhere you go...I swear I'll go crazy if I hear all those titles one more time!"

Belatem chuckled.

"According to Polgara, Belgarion was the same way. At least your queen isn't as hot-headed and imperious as Ce'Nedra was. How she managed that when they were both raised the same way mistifies me."

Yugi massaged his temples.

"And the worst part of it is I'm stuck doing this for the next twelve years until I have a son so the next Child of Dark can kidnap him! _Why me?_"

"Now you're really sounding like Belgarion," Silk said from the corner, apparently amused.

"And how long have you been there?" Yugi snapped.

"Long enough, my young friend." The little Drasnian came over to sit beside the harrassed Lord of the West. "Perhaps I could suggest a few ways you could occupy your time while you are waiting for Zandramas to strike. If it _is _Zandramas, that is. I'm still having nightmares about _Zorak._" He shuddered.

Atem had not missed what the Drasnian had said.

"You are not corrupting him, Kheldar. I forbid it."

"Do you now?" Silk's lips twitched in amusement.

Atem fixed him with a cool look.

"I believe you remember what happened to Zedar?"

Silk blanched.

"You wouldn't!"

"Silk, I appreciate the offer, but I know where it will lead and I'd rather not go there," Yugi said, looking a little apologetic. "We could play some Duel Monsters later, though, when I have time."

Silk pouted. "You're no fun."

* * *

**1.8:**

Yusei sighed as he got what little rest he could in the cell. It wouldn't be too long until Armstrong stepped out of line again and he'd step up to teach him a lesson. Again. This was one of the few things that happened regardless of what he did. He had made sure that there was absolute evidence of Tanner having no knives or magazines, that Yanagi was not trying to smuggle gold through his underpants, that Alex wasn't secretly trying to escape (which admittedly was actually the only true one,) and thousands of others for every prisoner. And then Armstrong had claimed he must be an enemy spy and challenged him to his rigged duel on those grounds.

In fact, here comes the corrupt lardass now, a grin on his face. "Yusei Fudo-."

And then the cell wall behind Yusei exploded outward. Black vines reached out and grabbed him. "What?" Yusei said. The vines pulled, retreating with Yusei in tow. Soon enough he was flung into the air... and landed on the back of a rather familiar dragon. "What?"

Akiza just giggled at Yusei's stunned face. "Oh god, I've actually caught you of guard for once!" She stated, unable to stop her laughing even as the Black Rose Dragon took to the air.

"Well it doesn't help that you just committed the most unsubtle prison escape in the history of escapes," Yusei pointed out. Akiza was in her Black Rose getup he noticed. If it hadn't been for the presence of her dragon he'd have trouble telling the difference.

"Second most," Akiza corrected. "The most unsubtle is the fact that Rose Tentacles is busy stealing your things back."

Yusei stared at her... and then he laughed. "Goodwin is going to have a fit trying to make all this fit his plans," He said, as the screaming voices of Tanner, Alex and Yanagi sounded out as they roughly landed on the back of the dragon.

"Uh Yusei... what's going on?" Tanner managed to groan out. "I mean, one minute I see Armstrong going to visit your cell, the next I'mm being grabbed by... by..." He stated and looked up at the dragon. "Well. That's different," He noted.

"We're alive at least!" Yanagi noted happily. "And if I'm correct then this lady has a connection to Yusei."

"Well that's obvious... but what about the dragon?" Alex asked.

Yusei chuckled again. "Guys, this is the Black Rose. My girlfriend, a signer like me and the worst escape artist ever," He stated. Akiza smacked the back of his head for that comment.

He honestly wanted to see how exactly Rex and Sayer tried to sort this out.

* * *

**1.9 (The Imaginatrix):**

"Jaden, what did you _do?_"

Jaden looked up at Chazz in surprise.

"What are you talking about, man?"

The other teen scowled. "Don't play innocent with me. All the weird stuff we ever went through had something to do with you. Why have we gone back in time?"

Jaden blinked. Then he grinned. "You're looping?"

"So you _do_ know what's happening."

"Yes and no," Jaden responded. "I've been stuck in a time loop for … well, I'm not sure how long by now. Yubel has looped whenever I've seen her, but sometimes things happen differently and I don't even meet her. I don't know why time is looping, but it's nice to know I'm not alone this time."

"…Okay, I'll accept that explanation for now. So why are you in Obelisk Blue?"

Jaden's grin broadened.

"Felt like a change of scenery. Like I said, I've been doing this for awhile and it gets _really_ boring after the first few times." A mischievous light entered his eyes then. "Hey, wanna help me out later on in the loop? I could use a brainstorming partner, and I'll bet you have some great ideas for dealing with some of our opponents."

Chazz stared at Jaden for a long moment before a wicked grin split his face.

"You're on. This is gonna be _fun._"

* * *

**1.9 Addition:**

Jaden and Chazz stood on the roof of the Academy. Their duel disks were out as they were surrounded by hundreds of Society of Light duellists. Teachers, students, pro duellists... it seemed like everyone on the island was there.

"I blame you for this," Chazz muttered. He narrowly leaped to the side to dodge a blast of ice from Alexis.

"Me?" Jaden asked as Neos punched a particularly menacing looking white Dinosaur. "This was your plan! How was I supposed to know that you didn't want more of a challenge when we took on the entire Society?" He added with a goofy grin on his face.

"You two know this is futile," A glowing Sartorious, standing amongst the throng of brainwashed people, stated. "Why not just give up the satellite keys and-."

"And I've had enough of listening to this guy preach. Time to Chazz. It. Up!" Chazz declared as he held three cards in his hand. "I play Ojama Delta Hurricane, and then Level Modulation!" The three Ojama spirits manifested onto the battlefield and started to spin.

Sartorious laughed. "Insolent fool, do you really think I will allow that to happen?" He asked as his white aura grew brighter... but the spinning simply continued.

Jaden grinned as his eyes glowed gold. "Don't need it," Jaden stated. "Every Light has a Darkness." He noted as the hurricane blasted out, annihilating every monster around them, Neos included. In its wake the imposing form of the Armed Dragon Level 10 glared down at people. "Do it Chazz!"

"Armed Dragon! Attack!" Chazz declared. Discs of dark energy blasted out of the dragon as it collided with each Society of Light member and forced them to faint.

Jaden just grinned as he looked around, the auras of light disappearing from each and every one of them. "Think that might've been a bit overkill?" Jaden asked.

Chazz simply turned and glared at Jaden. "I don't want to hear it Mr. 'I'll defeat Aster with Divine Neos'. If you hadn't done that in the plan, we wouldn't be in this position!"

Jaden just grinned. "See, I missed this. You yelling at me for doing stupid things," Jaden noted.

Chazz, despite himself, grinned back. "Heh, it was pretty fun. So, anything unusual happen in other loops? We've got to wait for them to wake up anyway," He pointed out, leaning against a column.

Jaden nodded. "There's this one set of loops where you use Light and Darkness Dragon," He started.

* * *

**1.10 (Krika):**

Hart stood at the window in his room in Heartland Tower, staring out at the bright lights of the amusment park and the city with indifference. He could almost remember a time when seeing them had brought joy to his heart, but now...now they were just bright lights.

After some time, he heard the sound of the lift rising up, and a familiar pair of bootsteps coming up behind him. He felt a hand on his shoulder, and looked up to see Kite staring down at him with concern.

"How are you feeling, Hart?" The boy looked back at the lights. "They're just lights now." He felt Kite kneel down and hug him, turning him away from the lights. "Hart, I have promised you before, and I promise you again that I will find a way to make you better." Hart looked into his face, and felt a flicker of concern at the worry that was on his face.

"But I can't do that all by myself, Hart. I need your help."

* * *

Shark watched as Yuma annihilated Kaze once again, this time using a combination of Galaxy Queen and Baby Tiragon as his main combo. He'd taken to coming up here with Yuma most loops. Roku may have been an old geezer, but he did have quite a bit of experience and skill, even if both of them had accumulated at least as much experience with the loops. Still...Yuma had seemed off. Afterwards, as they were heading back to the city, he brought up the question.

"What's wrong Yuma? You seem pretty worried for someone who just beat a pretty good duelist while using only Level 1 monsters." Yuma chuckled. "No, that was pretty funny. I'm more worried about Kite, actually." Shark frowned. "What about him?" "He wasn't around for the usual meeting. Neither of us have done anything out of the ordinary that would change events that fast, so I honestly don't know what's going on here." Shark nodded. "Hey, we'll probably run into him during the Duel Carnival, so I wouldn't worry about it much." They continued down the path, ignoring the confused looks Bronk and Tori were giving the duo.

* * *

Vetrix smiled as he inspected his latest Number acquisition. This one...this one he knew would be part of the key to getting his revenge on the damnable Dr. Faker. He chuckled at the thought, slowly transitioning into a full on theatric laugh. After a few moments, he pulled himself back - it wouldn't do to fall into the sort of cackling villainy that his nemesis engaged in, after all. When the Duel Carnival started, he'd have plenty of opportunity to snatch Hart and take his powers - did Faker think he didn't know about the deal he'd made that gave the boy powers? He contented himself with a smile at the thoughts of the pain that the ritual would cause the son of his enemy, before noticing that things seemed...odd.

Looking around, he noted that everything seemed frozen. A quick examination of a globe in the room showed that it seemed to be frozen in place, unable to be moved. With a frown, he was about to call upon his crest's power, when a whistling noise reached his ears. Spinning around, he found that standing on the balcony was a youth in a dark grey outfit, with a white robot next to him.

"Kite Tenjo. What a surprise to meet you under these circumstances. I take it you are responsible for this...field?"

This comment seemed to rile up the robot. "Hey! I'll have you know that this field is maintain by yours trul-."

"Zip it, Orbital." Kite's words were cold and precise, but his eyes never left Vetrix, who was starting to feel as if he was missing something.

"You..you got it Boss!" The robot quieted down with some mumbling.

"I presume you are hunting Numbers for your father then? Are you going to try me next?" The boy smiled, and his coat was suddenly bleached white by some sort of energy, as a Duel Disk appeared on his wrist.

"You will not touch my brother, Vetrix." The white was suddenly overtaken by red, as he began to glow with a power that felt oddly familiar for a moment.

Vetrix was not cowed. "Then you shall be the first to fall in my revenge!" His Disk appeared, and the two faced off, energy crackling between the two.

* * *

It was the third day in the carnival, and Yuma and Shark were very confused. Not only had they not seen neither hide nor hair of Kite (Yuma had take to specifically seeking out Cameron early on, in order to avoid that potential catastrophe), but the Arclights seemed to be no-shows as well. Still, both had easily qualified for the finals by this point, so they were taking it easy.

"I hope this isn't one of those strange loops where we find out that Faker only has one kid, or something...though it would be interesting to see who would replace Kite in the finals." Yuma commented, watching a Duel between Bronk and Caswell in progress. Shark rolled his eyes.

"I'm going with him siding with Vetrix, for whatever reason." "Now that would be pretty interesting."

"If I was going to do that, I would never side with Vetrix. Chris, maybe. But not Vetrix." The two of them spun around, to find the object of their conversation standing behind them, a smirk on his face. "Since I take it you've done this sort of thing before, care to fill me in?"

Yuma was the first one to break the short silence. "Where have you been all this time?"

Kite's smirk became more pronounced. "Cleaning up."

* * *

**Authors Note:** Welcome everyone to the latest in the series of Time Loop Fanfictions. These loops are inspired by Saphroneth's MLP Time Loops in that these loops are written by myself and others from the Spacebattles Forums and then put together by me. If you would wish to contribute but don't wish to join Spacebattles and post in the topic, then you may send your possible loop to me by PM to be judged.

These time loops use the system established by Innortal who has written time loops for Naruto, Bleach, Ranma and Harry Potter amongst others. The following info is important.

When a loop is started for a series there is one person who is always looping or "Awake" in every time loop. They are known as the Anchor, and are usually the main character. At first they'll be by themselves, but as time goes on more people are added to the loop, becoming "awake" in certain loops. A time loop itself usually goes from when something important first happens and ends either upon death or other forms of demise or after a certain amount of time. (This amount varies from universe to universe.)

When someone does something that breaks the world and forces a new loop they can end up looping in someone else's time loop. This is called a Fused Loop. The worse the breakage, the more likely the universe will make the loop something horrible for the loopers as punishment.

Each of the individual Yugioh series is its own separate set of time loops. Each of the main boys (and partners, if they have them) are the anchors for each series respectively. The only difference is that it's easier to force a crossover between the series loops.

Loop Notes: 1.5: An example of how Yugioh Time Loops work. This is a fused loop between the different series.

1.5 Addition: An extra added by myself after the main loop. As strong as you can be 96, you don't count for much in the presence of gods.

1.6: Crossover with Ranma 1/2 who has been looping for much, MUCH longer than the Yugioh crew would have.

1.7: Crossover with The Belgariad/Malorean

1.9 Addition: Another addition by myself after the fact as Imaginatrix felt it was lacking and I saw that as a challenge.


	2. Chapter 2

**2.1**

"I doubt that any of you have heard of me," Paradox said. "I don't come from anyone of your times."

"You're one of Z-ONE's friends, you came back in time because Ener-D goes out of control again because of reckless synchro summoning and you're trying to do this instead of helping out Aporia in my time," Yusei deadpanned. "Oh, and you use Malefic Monsters that are mostly stolen dragons."

Yugi and Jaden glared at Yusei. Both of them had wanted to be the one to say it. Paradox, on the other hand, gaped, then slowly closed his mouth. "I'm not sure how you know... but if there's any one man who would, it would probably be you, Yusei Fudo," Paradox rationalized. "Although you left out that while you may have saved the world many times, it was all against foes who were using the same cards."

"The Seal of Orichalcos didn't," Yugi countered.

"The Earthbound Immortals existed years before Duel Monsters was made. If I didn't fight them with cards, it'd have been with actual dragons," Yusei added.

"And if it didn't exist then there'd be no actual counter to Nightshroud," Jaden concluded.

"All problems that could've been dealt with in other ways. There's no good this game did without equal evils!" Paradox insisted. "The future, if duel monsters remains, is a doomed one!"

Suddenly a portal opened up. Yuma leaped through it with a duel disk in one hand and cotton candy in the other. "Oh hey! You guys are the famous duelists of the past!" Yuma said excitedly. "Yugi Motou, Jaden Yuki and Yusei Fudo, they talk about you in duel schools."

"So wait, I'm a school subject?" Yusei asked. "So you must be from the future."

"Yep!"

Paradox just smacked his head against his futuristic bike. "Right, that's it. Duel, now."

"But what about-."

"I'M NOT LISTENING AND WE ARE DUELING NOW!" Paradox insisted as his bike transformed.

"Think we touched some of his buttons?" Yuma asked.

"Definitely," Jaden agreed, grinning as his eyes glowed. Yusei let his mark of the dragon glow as Yugi and Atem switched out.

"Right then, Duel Disk go!" Yuma shouted as he tossed the duel disk into the air to set up. "Duel Gazer, let's roll. Broadcast mode," he added quickly... and after a brief pause the augmented reality gazer projected it's holograms. A rarely used option but useful none the less.

* * *

As Paradox fused with his dragon, Yuma laughed. "Wow, so we're doing a fusing thing here?" he asked.

"Perhaps it is time that we show them how we duel," Astral suggested. He had manifested after Malefic World had been activated and had been seen by the others as a result of the field spell.

"Oh, I know how you duel. And you won't be able to stop me," Paradox declared. "After all, defending my dragon is going to be my Malefic Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon!" As he announced this, the dragon of glowing energy appeared, simply having a black half mask and armor patched onto it. "When on the field, I can have it intercept any battle between a Malefic monster and a Xyz monster. With that I end my turn."

Yuma just grinned. "I bet you don't know this. I overlay myself and Astral!" Yuma announced. He and Astral turned into red and blue light respectively, and both shot into the air and combined together. Both of their voices rang out. "ZeXal Morph!"

In their place was an armored and more adult version of Yuma, his hair orange with red forelocks. The gazer had disappeared, replaced with a gleam in the being's golden eyes. "ZeXal II!" He announced. He spoke in both of their voices.

Paradox foamed at the mouth. He choked out what sounded like half thought up words... and then he and the dragon collapsed.

The four slowly looked over at him. "I think we just knocked him unconscious by mocking him," Jaden noted.

"Only if his duel disk deactivates," Atem warned. "I've run into that problem a few times... get back!"

Suddenly Malefic Truth Dragon sprang into the air and roared at the duelists. "The dragon's going feral," Yusei said. Malefic Truth Dragon gathered dark energy into its maw. "You need to finish it quickly, Yuma! I'm guessing at this rate it could destroy Japan before Paradox wakes up!"

"Not something I think we can shield either. We're good, but not that good!" Jaden said.

"Right. Shining Draw!" Yuma exclaimed. He could've used that outside of the combination at this point. It was just fun using it and funnier to see Paradox's reaction. "I play Monster Reborn, bringing back Utopia!" He declared. Utopia had been sent to the grave to stop damage from an earlier attack. The Number nodded to the combined duo. "And now, Rank-Up Magic Numeron Force!" As Utopia changed into Utopia Ray Victory, both Malefic Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon and Malefic Truth Dragon seemed to lose a bit of their glow. Energy was still being gathered in Truth Dragon's maw, though. "Utopia Ray Victory, attack!" Yuma and Astral's voices declared. The multi-colored four armed knight charged forward and with a flash of a consumed Xyz Material it slashed the dragon just before it would release its blast. The dragon glared at the knight and then collapsed. It dissolved into holographic sparkles and Paradox, who was for once whole, collapsed out of it. The energy field of Malefic World dissipated as Zexal II separated once more into Yuma and Astral.

"Way too close there guys," Yusei pointed out. "If he had gotten that attack off..."

"Then we would've been dead, I know," Yuma stated. "Gimme a break, I don't usually get these loops."

Jaden chuckled. "True... you should see how he reacts when we mix things up a bit," He said.

"Such as?"

"Paradox vs. the three dark lords of Duelling to start with."

Atem nodded. "We don't really change things up for your loops do we Yuma?" He asked.

"Does Crow's loop count?" Yuma queried.

"No," The three countered. Yusei slowly walked over to Paradox and picked him up.

"Get the dragons you need back, everyone. I need to take Paradox back with me. I plan to use him as a peace offering to Z-ONE and the others, see if we can't make your future more futuristic Yuma," Yusei commented with a grin. "And besides, that was technically one of my loops."

Yuma nodded. "And I need to get back too... I want to convince Vector to be nice. Not easy," He said.

"That's a good point, how are you getting back?" Jaden asked. "I'll probably hitch a ride with Yusei and this is Yugi's time." Suddenly a dark shadow entered the sky, a large golden airship having arrived.

"Different Dimension Airship," Yuma said off-handedly.

The other three were silent for a few seconds. "All in favor of taking the Airship?" Atem asked.

"Aye!" Yusei, Jaden and the now conscious Paradox chorused. Yuma just groaned even as the others laughed.

* * *

**2.2**

Jaden sighed. For once he had started off early. Early enough to have Yubel with him. She had calmed down too, since she was looping as well. "Too young to stop the light getting to Aster's dad," Jaden muttered. That had pssed him off. The one thing he had never been able to change about things even while looping was Aster losing his dad.

"Yes, but with me around we have... opportunities." A haunting voice entered the area as Yubel appeared in spiritual form next to Jaden. "And I have an idea for a prank we can do this loop."

Jaden raised an eyebrow. "Go on..."

* * *

Syrus groaned as he walked back up to the stands. It wasn't that he didn't like passing again... but he had shown off too much and was probably destined for Obelisk Blue. He sighed and glanced at the hallway. This is about when Jaden showed up before. He almost let out a startled yelp as The Supreme King walked through... and gave him a thumbs up. "Jaden?" Syrus whispered.

"Hello peasant," The Supreme King stated in a voice that would have intimidated him... if it wasn't for the fact that in addition to the echo, Jaden seemed to be speaking in a faux-British accent. "I am to understand that the exams are occurring. If so, then I, the Supreme King, demand that I have mine battle test started."

Syrus resisted the temptation to start hitting his head against something hard. Crowler already seemed to be taking offence to the loud armored duelist. "Jay, next time you do this sort of thing, give me a warning," the blue-haired teen whispered as he passed by. Jaden just responded by giving him another thumbs up.

Crowler frowned as the applicant's first monster, a Winged Kuriboh, shattered at the hands of his Ancient Gear Golem. "Check your gear, your life points haven't changed." He pointed out.

"Forsooth! Dost thou not know Winged Kuriboh's ability?" the increasingly annoying candidate asked. Of course, the damage negation. "Now it is mine own turn!" He declared, drawing. "I play mine Polymerization spell, fusing together my Ocean and Woodsman into Elemental Hero Terra Firma!" The white planet based Elemental Hero rose up out of a portal. "Then I play mine De-Fusion, splitting them back into Avian and Burstinatrix." The fused hero divided into blue and green lights, the two components posing.

Crowler raised an eyebrow. "A skilful move was there young man, but you've just thrown it away by getting rid of Terra Firma," he commented.

"Verily it doth seem mine play hath fooled thee," The Supreme King (as he called himself) said. "I now offer mine servants up as tribute. Come forth most powerful of fiends, the Maiden of Darkness who doth turn hope into despair. Yubel!" As he declared this, instead of simply disappearing, vines burst from the ground, wrapped around the heroes and dragged them under. The ground broke open again as Yubel flew out and landed in front of the candidate to be. "Yubel, compel his monster to attack."

Yubel grinned as her eyes glowed red. Ancient Gear Golem's eyes did the same as it reached forward. "Gear Golem, stop!" Crowler ordered.

"It doth seem thou knowest Yubel's effect," The Supreme King noted, even as Yubel was hit. "When thou dost engage her in battle, instead of mineself taking damage, thou shalt." With the declaration, a vine appeared on the field, growing speedily towards Crowler and flowering. The flower didn't open but instead formed a fist, striking Crowler. "Verily, that is game."

* * *

"So tell me Jay, was it really worth it in the end?" Syrus asked his best friend. He was dressed in the standard Obelisk Blue male uniform. He resisted the urge to laugh at Jaden who had been forced by Crowler to at least put the uniform on... and had done so over his black armor.

"Definitely."

* * *

**2.3.**

Three figures stood at the top of the Duel Tower: Atem, clad in Yugi's black top; Kaiba, wearing his typical gravity defying jacket; Joey, wearing his blue and white striped shirt. Each of them held their hands out in a card-holding position... and there was a flare of light as a trio of Eyes of Anubis's appeared on their foreheads, one on each. As the light glowed a single card materialized in each of their hands. In Atem's Slifer the Sky Dragon, in Kaiba's Obelisk the Tormentor and in Joey's the Winged Dragon of Ra.

"I wouldn't believe it if I didn't see it," Kaiba remarked. "You actually won a duel against Marik Wheeler?"

Joey grinned. "It's all through stamina Kaiba, you've just gotta take the pain."

"Or as it usually is in your duels, dumb luck."

"Don't you start with me rich boy!" Joey yelled. "I won this fair and square. The lack of lightning trying to strike me down kinda proves that."

The trio looked up at that comment. The night was filled with dark clouds, but none of them looked particularly stormy. "That does raise another question... what is your Millennium Item?" Atem asked. "Seto's is the Millennium Rod, I understand that."

"Joey Wheeler best represents the scales." The three looked around as they tried to find the source of the mysterious voice. Shadi slowly stepped into view. "Do not try to excuse yourself, Pharaoh. I have seen into your mind, and I understand that you three have lived this life before. I came here to give young Wheeler his item," Shadi stated, slowly walking towards Joey.

"Uh, I don't have to have it implanted in my eye do I?" Joey asked.

Shadi chuckled. "No. A pair of scales would look odd in that position," he said, handing his Millennium Scales over to Joey.

Atem blinked... and then grinned. "I see, Joey's personality reflects Karim because of his use of fusion monsters," He noted. Out of all of them, Joey's deck had the highest number of Fusion Monsters that weren't generic, although there were many he couldn't access.

"Indeed," Shadi commented. "It is good to see that you retain your memories of times past, Pharaoh." He started to fade away. "I hope I will not be needed later." And with that, he disappeared.

Kaiba looked at the Scales, then to the incredulous Joey. "Meh. You got lucky that he could tie you to one Wheeler," he said.

"Call me by my first name, Seto," Joey said with a slight grimace. "You keep giving me flashbacks to that really odd loop. "I mean, I get I represent fire and that we should help the environment, but just because my last name is Wheeler doesn't mean I have to replace him!" Then the rest of Kaiba's statement registered, and his rant was forgotten. "Wait, luck? How does Second in Duelist Kingdom, Fourth in Battle City and Quarter Finalist in your own tournament sound? And that last one was against a deck that you needed a Chaos Monster for!"

"Beginner's luck, Wheeler," Kaiba said with a malicious grin.

"Go take a long walk off a short pier," Joey muttered... before grinning himself. "Koiba." Kaiba's eye twitched in the way it always did when something had pssed him off.

"Regardless," Atem said quickly, hoping to stop a fight before it got started, "we now have the necessary cards to handle Yako's challenge individually."

"I still don't think that Wheeler should have one. He dealt with Bandit Keith just fine," Kaiba stated.

Joey just rolled his eyes. "He can be sneaky. I don't want to have to be staring down two Wicked Gods if he's been clever... but then I don't actually need Ra for that," he said. He held up his hand, a red 85 glowing on it. "Let's just say if he does... I'm gonna start doing some cheating too."

* * *

**2.4.**

"It's over, Pharaoh!" Yami Marik declared. "You're almost all out of life points, and your partner isn't looking too good."

Jaden grimaced as he looked to his side. It was his younger body... and a gigantic headache. Apparently his Supreme King self had replaced Atem's role in this world while his regular self replaced Yugi. They were both him, but not... And it resulted in the transformed state essentially being his and Yubel's fused form. He was fading in and out, and that was one headache he didn't want to deal with.

"And Slifer the Sky Dragon is all too eager to chow down on your meagre monsters!"

And there was the giant red serpent in the room. It turned out that despite his dorm, he was actually a bearer of Ra. It could be from defeating Franz, but it honestly mystified him. Still, the look on Yami Marik's face when he had managed to summon it out on the first turn with a combination of Polymerization and De-Fusion had been worth it.

"Well, Slifer is going to have to wait," Jaden stated with a grin. "Because I still have one more trick up my sleeve. I play Parallel World Fusion!" He declared.

From the sidelines Kaiba just watched. He hadn't had a fused loop with Jaden yet and found himself rather impressed by the spirit the boy kept up. "That's new," He muttered.

"Yeah, but I heard that Pegasus decided to release a whole bunch of odd cards while Battle City was going on Seto," Mokuba noted. "The fact he uses them so well is shocking though."

"What's he gonna pull out that can beat Slifer though?" Joey wondered aloud. He was awake as Kaiba was and simply wanting to see the best moves Jaden could pull off. "With that Infinite Cards out, Slifer has 8000 attack points. No regular monster has that sorta strength."

"We have to believe in him," Téa insisted. "His deck has never let him down."

"I combine my Grand Mole, Neos, Sparkman, Flare Wingman and Flare Scarab!" Jaden declared, the five monsters rising out from the grave and gathering into his deck. "In order to summon forth Elemental Hero Divine Neos!"

Yami Marik looked on in shock as the golden armored hero arose... then snorted. "Such a presumptuous card, let Slifer show him what real godly power is like!" He declared, the god blasting Neos down to 500 attack points.

Jaden shook his head. It was a pain that Divine Neos had less attack points, but that was about to change. "I activate Divine Neos special ability! I remove Shining Flare Wingman from my Graveyard for it to gain 500 attack points and its effect, increasing the attack!" He shouted, Neos thrusting a hand out into the darkness. A glowing fiery image of Shining Flare Wingman appeared and was absorbed into the Monster, causing its attack to shoot up to 1000 points, and then to 4600. "Next I play Monster Reborn, which brings back my Elemental Hero Terra Firma!" he continued, the White Hero appearing alongside the golden armored one. "And to keep those attack points stable, I'm sending the Elemental Hero Captain Gold in my hand to the grave to get Skyscraper!" A golden hero burst out of the card and punched the ground, the holographic buildings appearing swiftly.

"And yet it's still not enough. Even if you could attack me directly with them there'd be no point," Yami Marik insisted. True, his life points were as impressive as his monster, at 8999 after an earlier manipulation of the Winged Dragon of Ra.

"Which is why I play my last two cards! Quick Attack and Gift of the Martyr," Jaden stated. "The first lets Divine Neos attack this turn, and the latter means that Terra Firma will be going back to the graveyard, but gives his power to Divine Neos!" Neos nodded to Terra Firma as the latter turned into dust and its own power increased to 7100. Divine Neos spread its wings and leaped into the air.

Yami Marik's vein bulging face contorted into a look of dismay. "No! With Skyscraper your monster's attack becomes higher than Slifer's!" he declared.

"You've got it! Divine Neos attack!" Jaden commanded. As Divine Neos flew down, Shining Flare Wingman and Terra Firma appeared alongside it. Terra Firma and Divine Neos both punched the god at once, causing it to shatter. The pieces fell near Yami Marik, his life points falling to 8899. "And thanks to Shining Flare Wingman's copied effect, you take the attack points as damage."

"NO!" Yami Marik yelled. Divine Neos flared out his wings as the godly hero landed in front of the corrupted side of Marik. And suddenly Neos glowed. The light glowed brighter and brighter as the dark side yelled out in pain... but as he did, the light receded to the point that he almost darkened.

"And I have to end my turn as I haven't got any more cards in my hand. When I do Divine Neos loses the attack boost from both of his teammates," Jaden noted as Divine Neos' attack reverted to 1000. "But if I'm right..." As he trailed off the light died down completely and revealed Marik, the true Marik, in place of his counterpart.

* * *

"So... how did you know that was going to work?" Joey asked. They were on the blimp back home, as Marik had surrendered soon after Jaden's spectacular combo. "I mean, Yug probably told you what he did once but that doesn't explain how."

Jaden grinned. "It was more a case of picking three monsters that have experience with this sort of thing," he admitted. "Divine Neos took down an embodiment of Darkness, Shining Flare Wingman has taken down so many bad guys it almost isn't funny, and Terra Firma is my monster of choice in some loops."

Joey looked at Jaden incredulously. "So what your saying is... you through three monsters together and hoped for the best?" he asked.

"Pretty much."

Joey grinned. "You're my kinda duelist Jaden," He admitted.

Jaden responded with a grin of his own.

* * *

**2.5. (I'm going to point out here that for now I'm using any English names I can for the Barians. If names change, they will be changed.)**

Shark awoke and looked around. He was in Rio's hospital room.

"Shark?" And there was the voice of his sister. He looked at her. It was strange how over the loops, both those with her in it and those without her, he had grown distant and - why was she taking off the bandages? She wasn't even supposed to be able to move.

A red glow surrounded Rio as she did. Shark breathed a sigh of relief as Rio sat up. "Shark... do you feel like your repeating things sometimes?" she asked.

"Yeah, I do. Welcome to the loops Rio," Shark said… "And yes, I'm calling you Rio for now. I'm used to people calling me Shark, and Merag doesn't roll off the tongue," He pointed out.

"And Nasch is easy?" Rio countered. "So, loops huh? You've been doing this before?" She asked.

Shark nodded. "Actually, I was about to fix you up and go to the Barian world," he told her.

"Why?"

"To bring peace."

* * *

In a bar in Neo Domino, a throng of voices sang out in a drunken hurrah. Nasch simply grinned as he downed a shot of pure vodka and shivered. "By Don Thousand's stupid plans that's strong stuff." He commented, in energy form. He and the Barian Emperors (minus Vector, who he'd simply been unable to find,) had arrived at the bar in human form closely followed by Kite and Yuma, the latter in Zexal II form claiming to represent Astral World. The gathering had been intended to start peace talks between Astral and the others. What had ended up happening was that the Emperors, Kite and Yuma had managed to get drunk and a drunken party was being had with any pretence of subtlety long tossed away. Mizar and Kite, in Barian and Red Coat forms respectively, were passed out on the counter after a competitive drinking contest, Alito, Girag and Merag were trying to duel Yuma 3 on 1 in a drunken duel. A drunken duel that was simply getting more and more hilarious by the second as Yuma was using drunken Shining Draws and the three Barians had snatched up some fake Numbers before arriving on Earth.

The barkeep was Yusei Fudo which was probably the only way Alit, Kite, Merag and he had been able to get any booze in the first place. Dumon was actually holding a conversation with him now... out of all of them, only he and Dumon weren't drunk. At least he had a reason since his powers were water-based... but on the other hand the booze had made him more sociable.

"Oh we heard about the Earthbound Immortals even back home," Dumon admitted. "A very harsh task for such fragile beings, but I assure you if you had failed we would have stepped in to stop them."

"Doubtful," Yusei replied. "I know these number cards and I'm telling you that even if you had taken down Goodwin, you'd have to deal with the King of the Underworld afterwards."

"Having fun Dumon?" Nash asked, pulling a stool up next to them.

Dumon chuckled. "Indeed my friend. It reminds me of such celebrations in times long past, even if the details are lost on me now," He stated. he glanced over at Yuma as he played Rank Random Magic -Booze Force. "I must admit I thought that there would be a clash due to him."

"Well it's an Earth saying," Nasch said. "Alcohol can unite the bitterest of enemies."

"Don't I know it," Yusei agreed, looking out at the bar. Oh well, Jack's always looking for work, he can fix the place up.

* * *

**2.6.**

Yusei sighed as he walked up to the chair. A Hogwarts loop was usually time off, but it meant he was away from any machines until a break, which irritated the mechanic in him. Still, he had promised the guys to try something out when he got one of these.

The Sorting Hat was placed on Yusei's head and the students waited. And waited. And waited some more until the Sorting Hat finally spoke up. "Headmaster, did you put me on a manikin? I can't get a single thought out of him."

Yusei couldn't help it and burst out laughing. "Oh, a wise guy huh?" the hat said. "You're cunning enough then, Slytherin!"

Yusei didn't stop laughing even as he put the hat down. Putting up with Malfoy's crap was worth it to see how the hat reacted to Clear Mind.

* * *

**2.6 Addition (Krika.)  
**  
Jack sighed as he strode up. He invariably got sorted into Gryffindor, but like Yusei, he wanted to give something a shot this time around.

The hat settled down on his head, and was still for a moment, as if thinking, which surprised nobody. Sortings generally took a couple of seconds.

What surprised everybody was when the hat suddenly began screaming in pain, burst into flames, and threw itself off of Jack's head.

Everyone at the staff table sprang to their feet, drew their wands and launched quenching spells at both hat and boy. Professor Mcgonagall quickly took charge, quieting down the hall, and after a moment's thought, she shooed Jack to Hufflepuff as a place-holder. As he walked over to the table with a broad grin on his face, he saw Yusei, Crow, and Akiza (the latter two at Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, respectively) nearly falling off of their seats with laughter. Oh, this was so going to be worth the probing questions he'd be getting from Dumbledore later.

* * *

**2.7. (Krika)**

"I...I give you this. Give Z-ONE the hope I have found..." With those words, and throwing a glowing red energy construct at Yusei's Duel Runner, Aporia breathed his last for the second time in his life, though temporally speaking it was the first time it had happened. Strictly speaking, this time didn't count since this Aporia was a maybe-robot-maybe-cyborg copy of the original, but neither the temporal semantics of what happened first or robot rights were related to the issue at hand.

Yusei, to the surprise of the non-loopers present, did not mount up his bike. Instead, he slipped under it, and opening up a flap to reveal the Yusei Gear engine, began tinkering with it, several parts of which were now glowing reddish.

"Umm...Yusei...are you going to stop Z-ONE?" Crow, being one of the non-loopers present, wasn't sure what had come over his friend. Yusei popped out from under his bike. "Not before I figure out what the hell he did to my Runner." A quick glance showed Z-ONE hovering there, apparently as confused as Crow and Sherry, while Akiza, Jack, and the twins were all looping, and thus not overly surprised by this behaviour. He slipped back under his bike, while Crow looked to the rest of the group, who either gave an unconcerned shrug or equally confused looks, depending on their looping status.

Some indeterminate loops later...

Jack had woken up this loop inside the massive penthouse apartment that he lived in while working under Goodwin. It generally took a couple of days for them to get together, and figure out what the game plan was, so he used the time to kick back, relax, and beat schmucks like Hunter Pace who had stood no chance against him even before he started looping. Yusei was scheduled to arrive in the city the day after next, at which point they'd start to get people collected, though he sometimes took the initiative to track down Akiza.

He was currently relaxing on the roof, when a glowing red dot in the sky above Satellite caught his attention. He watched it curiously for about a minute before he realised what it was and his jaw dropped.

Flying towards him on a Duel Runner that was not only painted red, but was glowing with a red aura that appeared to form wings on either side was Yusei.

"...that's new."

* * *

**2.8.**

Yami Marik simply stared in befuddlement. For some strange reason, Joey Wheeler had brought a large coat with him and it mystified him as to why. "If you're worried about getting cold up here, Ra's flames will be all too happy to warm you up," he said with a sneer.

Joey grinned. "This ain't a coat, it's fire retardant!" He declared. "Let's see your dragon burn me now!"

A pair of loud slaps showed that both Yugi and Kaiba had facepalmed. "Joey... seriously?" Yugi muttered.

"No! You should be dead by now! Ra incinerated you and your monsters!" Yami Marik exclaimed in disbelief, even as Gearfreid raced forward and smacked his shield against the dark side's stomach. Yami Marick collapsed to the ground as Joey panted. He waited until he saw his opponent's life points hit zero and then threw the smouldering and mostly ashes coat off of him.

"Fire. Retardant. Coat." Joey stated, grinning goofily. In reality the coat had been a regular coat and he had hidden the power ring he got in that one loop. Even then the coat had been destroyed. "It's a miracle I'm still con- oh there I go." He noted, collapsing onto the field.

Kaiba still insisted to this day that Joey was lucky that his ring actually worked on Ra's fire.

* * *

Loop notes: 2.1. A Bonds Beyond Time Loop. Basically crossover loops where Yugi, Jaden and Yusei at least are all crossed over. In the loops that they aren't, Paradox plays a part as more of an enforcer for Z-ONE.

2.3. Number 85 is Crazy Box... a Number that relies entirely on dice rolls and luck. Also confirmed here are Captain Planet crossover loops and Abridged loops if you look hard enough. And yes, Joey has won his duel against Marik at some point.

2.4. First of many.

2.5. Because even Barians have a bar.

2.6. Addition. In Krika's own words "Because Jack's soul is on _fire_, yo."

2.7. In Krika's own words "Because when present technology gets boring to work with, you need to grab whatever future technology you can get your hands on."

2.8. Because Joey is literally on fire, yo.


End file.
